4 ms·
Sounds like you encountered a "rip" [0]; usually letting it take you out and then swimming after the current eases is the safest thing to do. At school (Oceania
by scanny 4y ago
Sounds like you encountered a "rip" [0]; usually letting it take you out and then swimming after the current eases is the safest thing to do. At school (Oceania) we get taught this as part of water safety, but I suppose it would be a foreign concept to many people, particularly those not living near the coast.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_current https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_current
- anthomtb 4y agoCan confirm. My childhood in Colorado taught me nothing of rip currents. A few weeks on the east coast of Australia was quite the eye-opener.
- vasco 4y agoI was taught to immediately start swimming parallel to the beach. Some rip tides can take you very far away very quickly, enough that nobody would be able to get to you without a boat, and that is if they were looking at you. Best advice is to swim parallel to the beach, while remaining calm and swiming at a pace you can hold. Do not sprint-swim due to fear.
- danenania 4y agoSwimming parallel to the beach will get you out of it, but it could be a struggle depending on the width of the rip and the size of the waves. Getting past the break first is often easier since then you can swim parallel to the beach and away from the rip without having to deal with waves breaking on you.